The present invention is directed to semiconductor processes and devices.
Since the early days when Dr. Jack Kilby at Texas Instrument invented the integrated circuit, scientists and engineers have made numerous inventions and improvements on semiconductor devices and processes. The last five decades or so have seen a significant reduction in semiconductor sizes, which translate to ever increasing processing speed and decreasing power consumption. And so far, the development of semiconductor has generally followed Moore's Law, which roughly states that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles approximately every two years. Now, semiconductor processes are pushing toward below 20 nm, where some companies are now working on 14 nm processes. Just to provide a reference, a silicon atom is about 0.2 nm, which means the distance between two discrete components manufactured by a 20 nm process is just about a hundred silicon atoms.
Manufacturing semiconductor devices has thus become more and more challenging and pushing toward the boundary of what are physically possible. Huali Microeletronic Corporation™ is one of the leading semiconductor fabrication companies that has focused on the research and development of semiconductor devices and processes.
An important aspect of semiconductor manufacturing is to provide test pads on a wafer to ensure the quality of semiconductor devices manufactured on the wafer. For example, sharing the same underlying semiconductor substrates with and being subjected to some of the processes as the actual devices, the test pads provide a useful way for testing and validating the devices. Conventional test pads and methods of using thereof exist, but, unfortunately, are inadequate. Therefore, improved systems and methods for test pads are desired.